Nice Safari

Arnie Madsen

Member
Joined
Mar 14, 2007
Messages
4,351
Location
Southport Aerospace - Manitoba Canada
Aircraft
Bell 47 G2
I got a pleasant email from Dale in British Columbia Canada and he sent me some pictures of his Safari.

We were aquainted back in the 1970's in Portage la Prairie Manitoba. Dale flew fixed wing and bought several planes over the years that he used to keep at the Portage flying club.

He now lives in BC and built a very nice Safari :
 

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Here is a bit of a quote from his email:

I decided to go with Safari ,no belts and they use the lycoming engine. The whole machine is very low maintenance.

The first things I did to mine other than oil changes was to replace 4 rod ends and some plastic bushings at 200 hours for a total cost of $400 ,so that is only a cost of $2 an hour in the first 200 hours.

The next scheduled matainance is to do 2 bearings in the tranny and do 6 bearings in the head at 500 hours.

Enclosed are a couple pics of my machine,I live up in the mountains and keep
it right at my house .I keep it on a trailer and just tow it out of the shop
and fly right off the trailer with the truck still attached.
 

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Thanks for the Post Arnie,Tell Dale that is a sweet helicopter and we would love to have him start posting about it. I am sure Stan will agree we need more helicopters.. :)
 
Daniel, Welcome to the forums...

Arnie, by any chance you know the cost of the Safari?... Unfurtunatly I can't surf the net like you guys do, here in Iraq we are very limited (Bandwith Control by Uncle Sam)....

Jose...
 
Standard kit (all at once), $84,500; quick build $89,000, according to the acehelicopter.com website.
Engine packages are around $30,000 depending on whether you want Superior or Lycoming.
 
An opinion comment here:
By the time you sink that much $$$ and all the construction time into it, it's a big investment. If you love to build,and want to customize, great. If not, the total investment is getting you into the neighborhood of used R-22s, Bell 47Gs, Hillers, Brantlys, Enstroms, etc., and you could get flying quickly in a certified machine that way as an alternative.
 
Arnie: Thanks for posting the Safari copter pics. What a nice bird and the scenery up there is fantastic.

Stan
 
Here is a bit of a quote from his email:

I decided to go with Safari ,no belts and they use the lycoming engine. The whole machine is very low maintenance.

The first things I did to mine other than oil changes was to replace 4 rod ends and some plastic bushings at 200 hours for a total cost of $400 ,so that is only a cost of $2 an hour in the first 200 hours.

The next scheduled matainance is to do 2 bearings in the tranny and do 6 bearings in the head at 500 hours.

Enclosed are a couple pics of my machine,I live up in the mountains and keep
it right at my house .I keep it on a trailer and just tow it out of the shop
and fly right off the trailer with the truck still attached.

Arnie, have you heard any more from this Guy and his safari?

if you have can you have him contact me?

thanks.
 
Thank you Arnie for the Safari pics. Damn it is a nice machine. Lycoming is always a good choice (if one can afford it). Those blades look composite to me. Are they? Close to 360 degree view in the bubble :) Love it!
 
Arnie, have you heard any more from this Guy and his safari?

if you have can you have him contact me?

thanks.
I still have his contact info Tim but I sense he does not seek a lot of (internet) publicity and I will respect that. I will send him your Helicom restoration link and he can decide.

There are quite a few Safaris flying but not a lot of builders post on the internet. Hope that changes. They have been around since the 1960's with your Commuter being one of the forerunners of the Safari.

Dale's original photos were excellent when he sent them to me but by the time I downsized them for the forum I lost the high quality. (Sorry Dale)

I am glad you are showing us the Helicom restoration Tim. This is probably the first on the internet, I know I have never seen another.

Helicom thread ..... http://www.rotaryforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22141

Thanks
Arnie
 
I still have his contact info Tim but I sense he does not seek a lot of (internet) publicity and I will respect that. I will send him your Helicom restoration link and he can decide.

There are quite a few Safaris flying but not a lot of builders post on the internet. Hope that changes. They have been around since the 1960's with your Commuter being one of the forerunners of the Safari.

Dale's original photos were excellent when he sent them to me but by the time I downsized them for the forum I lost the high quality. (Sorry Dale)

I am glad you are showing us the Helicom restoration Tim. This is probably the first on the internet, I know I have never seen another.

Helicom thread ..... http://www.rotaryforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22141

Thanks
Arnie
Arnie, some how I had missed your reply. yeah I have not seen to much from the Safari builders, if they have a forum I have not found it. they are great helicopters.

Glad you are enjoying my restoration thread.
 
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